5of14Members of the San Antonio Stars celebrate their 76-74 win over the Washington Mystics Friday Aug. 4, 2017 at the AT&T Center.Photo: Edward A. Ornelas, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

6of14Stars’ Kayla Alexander shoots over the Washington Mystics’ Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (left) and Emma Meesseman late in the second half on Aug. 4, 2017 at the AT&T Center.Photo: Edward A. Ornelas /San Antonio Express-News

7of14Washington Mystics head coach Mike Thibault calls a play during second half action against the San Antonio Stars Friday Aug. 4, 2017 at the AT&T Center. The San Antonio Stars won 76-74.Photo: Edward A. Ornelas, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Stars coach Vickie Johnson believes making progress is just as essential as winning. But she has also been around sports long enough to realize that the scoreboard is the ultimate judge.

So as her team endured an up-and-down season — more the latter than the former — Johnson fully understood if people were skeptical when she said her team was putting the pieces together.

The past four days, though, provided a little more tangible proof to what Johnson had been saying all along.

Paced by late-game poise, and clutch plays from a host of players, the Stars held off Washington 76-74 Friday before 4,955 at the AT&T Center.

The win was the second straight for the Stars (5-21), the first time they have won back-to-back games since defeating Indiana and Atlanta in July 2015.

“I really thought that everybody just stepped up and played team basketball on both sides of the ball,” Johnson said. “One thing I preach to these young players is never give up, stay together and believe in yourselves. We worked very hard, so it’s rewarding to see it in the game.”

More important than the fact that the Stars won was the manner in which they did. Seventy-two hours after using a big fourth quarter to pull away from New York, they again made the crucial plays in the final stanza to top Washington (14-10), which was playing without All-Star forward Elena Delle Donne (broken left thumb).

Trailing 74-71 with just under two minutes left, the Stars scored the final five points to grab the lead, then held on for the win when forward Dearica Hamby blocked Washington’s Emma Meesseman’s shot with 2.8 seconds.

The late-game prowess was a reversal from most of the year when the Stars faltered late in games.

“I think even a month ago, our confidence was in and out,” said Stars center Isabelle Harrison, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds and became the first Stars player since Sophia Young-Malcom in August 2012 to record a 20-10 game. “We still have our moments even now, but I think that when we come into the game, we make sure that we stay together no matter what. That is what coach always likes to say, and we have been doing that. We have been trusting her, so it has been working.”

That trust was evident on the floor as four of the Stars’ five starters scored in double figures. Kayla Alexander and Kayla McBride each had 12 points and Alex Montgomery had 10. Rookie point guard Kelsey Plum had nine points and a career-high 12 assists, the most by a Stars player in two years.

“I think the difference between teams that win and lose, especially in this league, is the little things,” Plum said. “Especially down the stretch. I think that we focus more. We have to lock in and make sure that we execute the way we want to. Tonight, we did that.”